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Meet the 21st century World Cup photographer
Can I click it? Yes you can...

By Will Sturgeon

Published: Tuesday 28 May 2002

The pitch-side photographer is one of the unsung heroes of the sports media. Nowadays they are tech savvy and at the World Cup they'll be using the latest networking technology to get their pictures on to back pages and websites. Will Sturgeon catches up with one of the UK's leading snappers.

For every World Cup there is a defining image. Think Mexico '86 and you see the infamous 'hand of God' as clear as if it were still on the back pages this morning.

This year, thousands of photographers will be gathering in Japan and Korea, vying to capture such a moment and each World Cup brings with it four years of technological development, changing their working lives.

This year enterprise networking specialist Avaya has installed and will manage wireless LANs at the 20 host stadia, promising to bring high-speed connectivity to reporters and photographers at pitch-side.

For the first time many photographers will be working with a combination of digital camera, laptop and wireless LAN card - providing an always on connection from pitch-side back to one of the International Media Centres (IMCs) which Avaya has helped set up in Seoul and Tokyo.

A photographer will be able to take a photo, review it instantly and send it to a picture editor in the IMC, from where it can be sent on to agencies or newspapers all over the world at the fastest speeds modern technology allows.

This means, for example, if England score the winning goal against Nigeria in Osaka in the 88th minute, the picture could be in place on the back page and the presses could be rolling before the post match interviews are over.

Now that's got to be quite handy.

"Not really," says Russell Cheyne, chief sports photographer with the Daily Telegraph, who will be covering the tournament this summer.

"This is one instance where it would be possible to do the work without all the technology in place because of the time difference.

"If we were up against a deadline - for example an 8pm kick off in England - then you've got to get your pictures in by 9.30pm in order to make the paper. This means sending them in before the match has even finished.

"But at the World Cup even guys using film will have time to take their pictures, leave the ground, go for a meal and a few drinks, develop the pictures, scan them in and send them back."

But before the execs at Fifa and Avaya start tearing their hair out at misplaced investment it is worth noting that UK photographers, working for the major nationals, have caught a particularly lucky break with the time difference - a feeling which won't be shared by fans here rising at 06:30 to watch a game on the TV or the media in other parts of the world.

Even harder for those early-bird fans to swallow will be the fact that Russell doesn't class himself as a football fan. "I'm a sports fan," he says, before trying to ease my pain by making it clear he knows he's a lucky man with an enviable job.

Furthermore, as a Scot he will be remaining "neutral". I mentioned England v Scotland at Euro '96 at one point but, in the words of Basil Fawlty, "I think I got away with it". He doesn't buy into the Scottish attitude that it will be a great day when England crash out, though he admits that's "a big thing" north of the border at the moment.

A bigger thing, south of the border, is the fact that, for all their detractors, England did qualify and did so in a style that has captured the public's imagination.

"At the moment it's the biggest story and in theory I'm out there until the final but that could all change. Michael Owen's hamstring could go. David Beckham's foot might not have healed properly and the public will start to lose interest. If England are knocked out early I could be back taking pictures of Tim Henman at Wimbledon."

But assuming England can keep the nation interested, or assuming the bosses at the Telegraph decide to keep Russell in the Far East regardless of England's progress, how will it all work?

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